Table of Contents - Digital Storytelling

1. Point of View
2. Dramatic Question
3. Emotional Content
4. Gift of your voice
5. Background Soundtrack
6. Economy
7. Pacing


Dramatic Question - Element #2
-Lesson learned


What keeps an observer engaged in a story is the dramatic question and the tension that's created by the conflict between the question and the resolution.

To keep the SUSPENSE in your story:
  • Tell the story first, and embed the dramatic question later on or at the end.Embedded in the story is a dramatic question or lesson learned that you and your audience can identify with.
  • What is this movie about?
  • Will there be a solution to the question?
  • Hiding the question or lesson learned until later in the movie draws peoples attention.
  • Tension is created by the way you go about answering your dramatic question or explaining the lesson learned.
    • This applies to your presentation of science, social studies, math etc.Once you've presented the lesson learned or answered the dramatic question, the story is finished
Video Sample:

Watch for the dramatic question and lesson learned in the Cost of Chocolate example created by Mabry Middle School..

  • Is the question resolved?
  • Does it leave you with things to think about?
  • Have you learned something?
    Notice the limited use of words, the use of music, and pictures to tell the story.